Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with Vanilla Bean Glaze

Perhaps it’s the European in me, or particularly the Maltese portion, that craves and enjoys denser cakes. What a change from the sky-high fluffy layer cakes I so enjoy creating, but wow, so quick, easy, and tasty. I bought a great Bundt pan (it was hard to choose a style, since they are seemingly endless!) from Nordic Ware a few months ago, and have a list of about 25 variations I’m eager to try. Last night I made this classic Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake & Vanilla Bean Glaze, and it turned out so incredibly yummy. The girls sat up on the counter and helped me glaze it–we may have gone a little overboard, but can you really ever have too much Vanilla Bean Glaze?

Here’s a photo that brings me a slightly curious amount of joy, but you can see why! I wish these were mine, but, alas, I only own one Bundt pan so far. I have a feeling I will start to collect them the way I have cake pedestals, because they too are so pretty, unique, and, of course, functional. I love that some are authentically retro, and others simply look that way.

As you can see in the photo, they’re practically art. I discovered and favourited this gorgeous Bundt cake pan extravaganza on Flickr many months back, and I’m so glad I did, because it lead me to its owner: Abbey, the ever-creative and self-described “art-obsessed” blogger from aesthetic outburst. If you haven’t checked out her fun blog yet, and are craving a punch of colour and inspiration, I highly recommend it. Isn’t it funny how the Internet can take you down the most unexpected of roads sometimes, which is when you discover some of the best gems? Love that.

Isn’t that just vanilla happiness on a plate? As, I mentioned, my little cakelets and I may have gone a little gangbusters with the glazing, but, hey, we all needed a turn, and it was so much fun .

The recipe itself is very straightforward, and with the luxe addition of 2 whole vanilla beans into the cake and another into the glaze, I found this to be a really simple, flavourful and, dare I say, special Bundt cake, compared to some of the more basic recipes. (I imagine that if you didn’t want to include 2 whole vanilla beans into the cake itself, you could get away with one and a tablespoon of pure vanilla extract.) As with any pound or Bundt cake, the cake’s texture, or crumb, is dense but moist–divine, if you ask me. I just loved this cake, and had several pieces this afternoon.

Love those vanilla bean flecks!

I find that the flavours in a cake like this tend to improve after a day or so, as long as kept at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. It’s a perfectly delightful breakfast, tea-time snack, or occasion cake. Place it on a plate for a pretty look, or high upon a pedestal to celebrate its loveliness.

For those with an interest in history, I read an interesting article from The Nibble, explaining the history of the Bundt pan, as well as more about the authentic European inspiration, the Austrian Kugelhopf. A quick and interesting read: Bundt History.

Beat together butter and sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape seeds from vanilla beans with tip of a paring knife and add into butter mixture, reserving pods for another use, and beat until well combined, about 1 minute.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon extract until well combined. At low speed add flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

Spoon batter into pan, smoothing and spreading evenly. Gently tap pan on counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until the tip of a knife or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in pan 1 hour, then invert onto a rack and cool completely, about 1 hour more.

For the Glaze:

Split vanilla bean and scrape seeds into whole milk. Let sit in a spouted container, such as a large pyrex measuring cup, for about an hour. Add confectioners' sugar gradually, whisking, until you get desired consistency--about 1 cup.

You want to make sure that it's not too runny, or it won't dry white on the cake, and will run off too quickly. It should take a few seconds to whisk it, and it will feel too thick at first--keep whisking until you get desired thickness. If too thick, add a teaspoon or so of the vanilla milk.

Comments

That is a gorgeous gorgeous cake! I love your Bundt pan, love the delicate angles that run down the cake. I own only one too and that photograph might be responsible for starting yet another obsession for me (if hubby asks, I am going to blame you, lol). Earlier this year I moved from cake stands and domes to tea towels and retro milk bottles :-)

I love that old stove in the photo! Your bundt looks delicious and you are right, you can never overdo anything with vanilla bean in it! Beautiful photograph with the milk pitcher and glasses in the background, the white against the dark serving plates…Wow!

p.s. I can’t help but recall the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding whenever I hear the word Bundt!

Oh how I love this post! First I adore all things vanilla – but also this post has me falling in love with Bundt! I really need to get myself a pan. My neighbor asked me for one this week and I had to sadly admit that I didn’t have one – what a bad neighbor I am!! Now I have a reason to go treat myself! ♥- Katrina

I just recently discovered your blog and so happy to have found you. Your photos look fabulous. This cake is nice because it’s simple yet elegant. Oh and I wish that bundt cake wall was mine too! What a craeative way to decorate a kitchen.

Oh, she was referring to Paula from Vanilla Bean Bake who was remembering the funny bundt cake scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding!I was wishing I remembered that before I wrote the post, because I would have loved to have reflected on that ;)

Oh my heavens, this looks lovely. I love vanilla bean anything and bundt cake..well I could eat a box of bundtinis from Nothing Bundt Cakes in one sitting LOL :) I posted Pink Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream today as my blog post….now I am wishing I had some bundt cake too. LOL Thank goodness I have a bundt cake pan in there!

Oh wow, so loving that kitchen with the bundt pans as art, wow! I have the words Eat Cake in my kitchen. I think if I obsess about it then I won’t eat as much! Not sure if that is working! Love your blog, just found you through Twitter and I can’t wait to read more!

You’ll love this one, LL! Not a silly question at all about the beans. You can get them at Bulk Barn in a tube with 2 inside. Very $ but worth it! If you found you were using more often, there are better sources online. Let me know how you like it!

Love the classic beauty of this cake! Love that beyond cake it looks like we have another thing in common, I love aesethetic outburst-great site. I’m a huge stalker of design blogs and tend to find my inspiration there more than food bloogs. :)

That cake is a beauty. I know what you mean about liking denser cakes so much. I love them too. That bundt pan collection is adorable. Before I started reading the post I thought, “Oh my gosh! Where the heck did she get all those fabulous pans??” :)

Yum! I love moist dense cake so much more than light fluffy cakes too! I have found a number of cute bunt pans in thrift stores.. the latest one was hot pink! I’ll have to use it to try out this recipe

Thank you all for your sweet comments about my bundt pan collection. :) We’ve since moved and it’s been in boxes- I think I need to hang them up again. This cake recipe though…oh my! It is most certainly on my ‘to bake today’ list. Thanks, Rosie! x, Abbey

Hi Rosie,
I recently discovered your blog and i am just in love. I have always adored baking but only recently began trying things so you are a huge inspiration. Thanks for being so helpful and down to earth ! I sincerely do not have enough nice things to say. I was wondering, what are some baking tools that you can’t live without ?
Thanks again for sharing these beautiful posts with us :)

oh man that is a great wall of bundts. i too only have 1 bundt pan… well actually for a wedding present i got a mini bundt pan with 6 mini rose topped bundts… but haven’t yet used it! eeps!

there is something so charming and appealing about bundt cakes. definitely the glazing is key… and you guys did an excellent job glazing — gangbusters = crucial with glazing! everyone loves the glaze!!!

gorgeous photos as always… the bundt cake slices on their individual plates reminded me of little cars for some reason! ^__^

I just made this cake tonight, and I have to say, WOW! I don’t think I’ve ever made cake from scratch before (sad, I know) and I thought this would be a good cake to make for Easter. Naturally, I wanted to try it before serving it to my entire family. Good thing too, as my glaze ended up on the runny side and now my cake is sitting pretty in its stand in a puddle of glaze. Oh well, right? That’s how we learn! Anyway, I thought I’d make two of these for Easter, and perhaps use a chocolate glaze for one. Thanks for an awesome recipe! And now I have vanilla bean pods to use for vanilla sugar; double bonus!!

I made this glaze tonight and it actually needed about 3 cups of sugar to absorb all that milk…it was delicious, truly, but with all that I could have glazed 10 cakes and ended up dumping lots of delicious vanilla bean glaze in the trash because I had so much!

I had the same problem as Jenentonic and Louise! :( Wish I would have read through all the comments, or I would have worked backwards as Jenentonic suggested. Oh well – it looks beautiful though. I am using the glaze for homemade donuts!
Thanks!

Think this would make a good cake for a dense wedding cake?? Making a wedding cake but I’ve tried a few recipes for plain vanilla cake want something moist and delicious but also sturdy enough to be tiered. And have yet to find that perfect recipe!

Hi Rebecca,
I love this cake, and yep, it is dense, but I think if that’s what you’re looking for, you will find this a great option. It’s got so much lovely vanilla flavour and I really enjoy the texture. I hope this helps!

Well I’m afraid if I go to fluffy that it won’t withstand being stacked even with proper doweling do you have any other cake suggestions for a fluffier cake? Thank you so much for your help it’s truly appreciated! :)

Hi Rebecca,
Just a note that I you can really do any of the vanilla cakes on my blog, and they should work well–the Fluffy Vanilla Cake is quite a bit lighter, but I have used all of the other vanilla cake recipes for fondant/stacking before. Hope that helps!

Awesome thank you so much totally gonna borrow but don’t worry I’ll give credit where credit is due in the end!:o) appreciate you feedback! Keep up the great work I’ll be sure to post pics of my cake when I’m all done!!

I made this cake yesterday. Very good! I think my glaze should have been a little thicker. But I will for sure be making again. I just love your website, as I love to bake, but am not nearly as good as you………you are a true inspiration! You are very talented.

This cake is very delicious. I made this in a castle form for my daughter’s birthday. I tinted it pink, the glaze too, and decorated it with pastel candies. It was lots of fun, and she really loved it. Thanks for the recipe! I do love your site too! Keep up the recipes and pictures, they are beautiful.

I’ve made this several times now and absolutely LOVE it, and so do my greedy family and friends for that matter! I substituted the lemon extract for almond extract as I’m not so much a lemony type of girl (!) and used the Nielsen-Massey paste and managed to produce fabulose results. Love your recipes Rosie- they always manage to hit the mark! Lots of love from London, X

If you don’t already own one, I highly suggest purchasing a copy of Shirley O’Corrihers’ Bakewise cookbook. It has a fantastic recipe for the densest, most delicious vanilla poundcake I have ever had. It also has wonderful recipes for chocolate and yellow layer cake recipes (and a Tunnel of Fudge cake that is to DIE for).

I made this cake yesterday, and it turned out amazing! The cake was fluffy and the crumb was moist. And I loved that all the pieces were dotted by the tiny vanilla seeds. I found it slightly less sweet, so I will add a little more sugar next time. Lovely and no-fuss recipe! Thanks!

Simply amazing recipe!Am planning to make it this weekend for my family.Could you tell how many measuring cups is 2 1/2 sticks of butter as mentioned in your recipe?would love to hear from you.Stay blessed!

I made the vanilla bean bundt cake today and it was a bit dry. The taste was delicious. Perhaps 1 hour at 350 degrees was too long? Did you measure the flour before or after sifting? I am a novice baker so would appreciate any advice.